


orchid

by josieswylie



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Homecoming, Love, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24131644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josieswylie/pseuds/josieswylie
Summary: it's homecoming night. and ricky bowen is in love with his best friend gina porter even though she's dating nini salazar-roberts.
Relationships: Gina Porter & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Gina Porter/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen & Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20
Collections: love is not dying





	orchid

They were Gina and Nini. Nini and Gina. The two star-crossed lovers of East High. It was only a matter of time before they dated; everybody knew that they had liked each other ever since freshman year. Especially Ricky. On Gina and Ricky's cute little drive arounds in the neighborhood, him driving in his retro, as he liked to call it, orange buggy, she was all Gina could talk about, about her beautiful hair, or about her amazing brown eyes, or even more amazing voice. Every time she left his car when she got back home, Ricky wondered if it was worth it. Worth it to hear her gush about some random girl she was in love with just to spend time with her. Just to see her. And every time he reminded himself of her contagious smile, the way serotonin just hit him, just everything about her made him realize how deeply in love with her he was. Too bad she would never feel the same.

"Hey, babe!" Gina ran over to her girlfriend at the table in her sparkly multi-colored dress, or bedazzled tablecloth as Nini first called it when she looked at the dress. She planted a kiss on her cheek, wrapping her arm around her shoulder as they stared into each other's eyes. "You look amazing, Neeners. As always."

"And you do too, my darling angel," She smiled some more as she rested her head on Gina's shoulder. "Our first ever homecoming together."  
The night was perfect to them. Nothing could ruin this amazing day.

Ricky, on the other hand, was sulking hard over at the punch table with Big Red, his other best friend, his second choice as people like to call him. He rolled his eyes every time they held hands or did something even remotely romantic. That would've been him at that table with her instead of Nini, if he had told her how he felt a year ago when he might’ve had a chance. He had forced himself to be happy for her. It's what best friends do, he had said over and over again.  
"Stop looking like you wanna kill Nini. People are starting to stare." His friend looked over at him with a fake smile, whispering through his teeth, only having what’s best for him in his mind.

Big Red knew he was second best to Gina, and Ricky had let him know it, not on purpose though. Whenever he would come over, he said that she was busy on a date or something, so he decided to go to his place instead. Red was fine with it. Being the nice guy with the red hair was his personality. You could always count on him to send notes or homework if you missed class.

“Sorry,” he groaned, not meaning it at all. Ricky’s eyes narrowed towards Nini, continuing his death stare.

He didn’t hate her or anything, and he certainly did not have any reason to, she had been nothing but nice to him ever since their childhood. One time, she baked a whole sheet of brownies just for him because he felt sad that his goldfish died, and of course little Ricky gave Gina almost all of them.

“Dude,” Red finally brought up the courage to give RIcky a reality check that he desperately needed. “Either get over Gina, or tell her that you’re madly in love with her. Easy.”

It wasn’t as simple as he made it out to be. Getting over Gina was something that wouldn’t happen in a million years. Ricky loved her too much to let her go. And confessing that he’s in love with her wouldn’t happen in a million years either. He knew that their friendship would be ruined if he told her, and that was something he would never risk.

“You make it sound like it’s a piece of cake.” He looked over at the loving couple who were gazing into each other’s eyes before getting a laughing fit. “It’s not.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Big Red could already name three things at the top of his head, but he had to follow through with trying to be optimistic.

“The worst that can happen?” The curly-haired boy scoffed. “Uh, I don’t know, Gina chooses Nini and then I’m left all alone with no friends except you and then everyone at school hates me? That’s gotta be top five.”

Time flew by as Ricky and Big Red argued over if and why he should finally tell her how he feels while Gina and Nini danced the night away. 

Gina waved Ricky to come over to their table, smiling, which made him want to smile even though he was in a mood. He hadn’t looked that closely at her the whole night, knowing it would’ve made him fall deeper into the rabbit hole of his love for Gina. He couldn’t help but keep his mouth open for a few seconds because he was that much in awe of her.

Ricky started walking around the dance floor to get to the table. His palms were sweaty, and his breath became a little more shallow. He didn’t know why he was so nervous, he saw her everyday and he had never felt that way before. Maybe it was because homecoming night was special. He reached the table right as Gina gave another kiss to Nini, more of a goodbye kiss.

“Hey, um, can you give me a ride home? You know how my mom gets when it’s past curfew.” Gina already had her coat on, knowing that he would say yes. He would do anything for her, from the littlest of things to even risking his own life.

“Yeah, sure!” Ricky was a little too enthusiastic to ride in a car with Gina for ten minutes. But ten minutes of time with her when she looked like that felt like hours to him.

They walked together to Ricky’s car, linking arms, and her telling him all about her amazing night with Nini and how they had the best time ever, and Ricky listening because he could hear her voice talk all night long. 

Ricky had been driving for a while until he finally reached Gina’s driveway. He had seen the place a thousand times from the outside, but for some reason, he had never seen it on the inside. 

“Thank you, Ricky.” She meant it, she always did. Gina was the most genuine person he knew, never lying and always telling the truth.“I don’t know if I’ve told you this recently, but I love you.”

Hearing those three words made him feel emotions he didn’t know he had. Ricky knew that she didn’t mean it the way he wanted it to, but it felt amazing to hear her say it. He felt like he was floating.

“You’re amazing, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Every word she said made him fall deeper. She was reeling him in and she didn’t even realize.“You literally make me so happy.”

He could feel his heart beating in his ears. Ricky loved Gina so much. More than he could put a number on. Everything she did or said was like magic to him, made him feel like he was living a dream whenever she was around.

“Goodnight, Ricky.” Gina kissed his cheek delicately. It was a simple, platonic gesture that wouldn’t have even made Gina think. “I love you. My number one best friend.”

Gina walked into the house, the lights turning on and then off as she walked in while Ricky sat in his car in disbelief. What just happened?

His eyes were wide and his breath taken away. She kissed him, not the other way around. The last two words lingered in his mind. Best friend. That’s when it hit him, really hit him. That they would never be something more than that no matter how hard he wanted it to, no matter how hard he pushed it to be. He would always be considered her best friend, her brother even. They would always be Ricky and Gina: the best of friends because it had always been that way. At least to Gina. And it would always be Gina and Nini in the end, and never Gina and Ricky.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading ily! and also be sure to read the whole collection after #rinaweek2020 is over :)


End file.
